This Week in KC History
Heat Wave
August 14, 1936: In the midst of a sweltering summer heat wave, the temperature reached a record-high 113 degrees Fahrenheit in Kansas City. These high temperatures in the summer of 1936 remain the most extreme in modern North…
Striking a Chord
December 16, 1936: 1,000 employees of the Fisher Body plant located in the Leeds district of Kansas City sat down on the job to protest the recent firing of a worker and demand that General Motors recognize the unionization of…
His Own Man
February 2, 1940: Senator Harry S. Truman decided to run for reelection despite the possibility that his political career was nearing its end. He faced a tough primary against Lloyd C. Stark, the governor of Missouri who had just…
Flying High
December 7, 1940: The U.S. Army Air Corps announced that the Fairfax Industrial District in Kansas City, Kansas, would host a North American Aviation B-25 bomber production plant to prepare for the possibility of the United…
End of the Marriage Penalty
March 2, 1944: The Kansas City school board announced that it would hire married female teachers for the first time due to a workforce shortage caused by World War II. Despite the departure from longtime tradition, the news was…
Jones' Reach
October 21, 1945: John Logan Jones, age 86, passed away following complications from a two-week illness. Although he was not the most celebrated of Kansas City's business leaders, Logan Jones, as he was commonly referred to, was…
Starry, Starry Nights
June 25, 1951: Following celebrations for Kansas City's centennial birthday, Starlight Theatre began its first season with the musical The Desert Song. Attending the outdoor theatre in Swope Park quickly became a beloved…
Water Rights
August 2, 1951: Kansas City’s municipal government learned that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was filing a suit to force the city to end racial segregation at the Swope Park swimming pool…
Days of Shock and Sorrow
September 28, 1953: Bonnie Brown Heady walked into the Notre Dame de Sion, a Catholic school located in Hyde Park, and told school officials that she was the aunt of Bobby Greenlease, a six year old enrolled in the school. Heady…
Bird Lives
March 12, 1955: famed jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker died following a 15-year addiction to heroin and alcohol. The Kansas City native had become one of the greatest alto saxophonists in the world thanks to his innovations in…